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What Can We Learn from a Haul Video?

“Haul” videos are all the rage on video sites like YouTube. Shoppers record video evidence of their latest shopping “haul” and describe the bargains or treasures that they scored on their shopping mission. But if you take a closer look at these videos as marketers, can you learn something about shoppers and their habits, needs and wants from them?

To find out, let’s take a closer look at this recent scrapbooking haul video posted to YouTube by user detdaty0129:

So, what can we learn about shopper behavior from that 47 seconds? A surprising amount, actually.

Our haul shopper is pretty savvy. Not too many shoppers realize that some stores will take the competitor’s coupons (something I am personally always forgetting about when I get my Joann’s flyers in the mail).

This shopper chose to use her coupon on an item [Scotch ATG adhesive applicator, $29.99 at Scrapbook.com] that I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about, and was very excited about it. Adhesive isn’t usually a “sexy” product, but this particular adhesive gun seems to have really excited consumers.

The 70% off coupon was used to get a very practical item for a nominal price rather than seeing the discount as an opportunity to get a less usable luxury item at a massive savings. I’ll admit – I have a few expensive “ghost tools” that sit around my scrap room collecting dust that I was swayed into buying by a massive discount.

This coupon promotion by Jo-Ann Stores converted well into a sale – unfortunately it was a sale for their competitor! But it does show that coupons will bring out shoppers.

Coupon promotions like this are designed to get shoppers into the store in the hopes that they will buy more than just the coupon item. Although it isn’t mentioned in the video, a glance at the shopper’s receipt shows that it contains multiple line items, which means the promotion was probably successful in that respect.

This concept of using big sales to buy basic essentials at affordable prices was one that we saw retailers reporting as a trend last holiday season, when it seemed shoppers were gravitating more than usual towards holiday sales on basic clothing items. Since it appears that sentiment has stuck with consumers, it will be interesting to see how it affects the upcoming holiday season for retailers.

Remember the tease on the Behind The Scenes blog to get your video cameras ready? Well, here’s your first chance to use them on Scrapbook Update! Would you like your haul to be the featured in the next Scrapbook Update “haul” analysis? You can submit your own “haul” video to Scrapbook Update via our video submissions page after uploading it to YouTube or a similar service. We can’t wait to see what our readers come up with!

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About Nancy Nally

Nancy Nally is the owner of Nally Studios LLC., and the Publisher & Editor of ScrapbookUpdate.com and CraftCritique.com.
Nancy also served as the “Modern Business” columnist for Northridge Publishing’s Creative Retailer magazine for several years, before becoming the magazine’s editor from 2013 until its closure in 2014. Her writing has also appeared in CLN Online and CHA's Craft Industry Today.
In addition to writing, Nancy is also an experienced speaker and presenter, having given business seminars at many recent Craft & Hobby Association trade shows. From 2011 until 2012, she was the founding co-host of the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, and she can also be seen on five episodes from the second and third seasons of the PBS television series Scrapbook Soup.
Nancy also does freelance public relations work and consulting for private companies about the scrapbook industry’s trends and business climate.

7 Responses to What Can We Learn from a Haul Video?

I’m one of those people that shop all around. If I can’t get it on sale or clearance, then it’s something special at an LLC that I can’t get elsewhere. Scrappin’ is an expensive hobby and I try my best to keep the costs down.

That is so cool – I’ve never even heard of a “haul” video! But I do love my ATG. I notice the one she got is pink which is fun. Mine is red. My only problem is that adhesive refills are not available here in Australia – so I buy in bulk from the US

Oh Boy! She made out really good. I got mine at M’s too but with a 50% off coupon. I do not buy anything if is not on sale or I have a coupon for it. Unless, it is an emergency, lol. and the later do not happen often.

Yup – love the concept of ‘haul videos’ and Nancy loved watching yours – like Gab – I live outside of the US (South Africa) and always read with great envy (I literally turn green sometimes – isn’t a pretty sight!!) on the forums how people have ‘scored’ with their coupons.